# Top 50 Comic Book artists of all time **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877 "2001-07-18T02:39:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/41 "2001-07-20T02:33:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > Um…Miyazaki did MANGA??? I thought he was just one of the world’s greatest animators. (I just got an 8 DVD set of all his films, in letterbox format. With Chinese subtitles…) I didn’t know he did comics too! > > If he did manga, I _ **must** _ get them. Laputa and Nausicaa started as his manga. (These two I know for sure - I have read the translation of Nausicaa, and passed up the chance to get a copy (Untranslated of course) of Laputa in order to get a copy of You’re Under Arrest (also untranslated - oh, and I’d add Kosuke Fujishima to my list.) - A few of his other films might have too.) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/42 "2001-07-20T04:50:00Z")
No one’s mentioned **Alex Toth** yet. Yes, the designer of _Space Ghost_ did comics, boys & girls, and he was a master. (Silver Age) I don’t think anyone’s mentioned **Mike Zeck** yet either. He did some _Punisher_ stories and the last Kraven story for Marvel in the 1980’s. He’s done some nice stuff more recently, too. And I love **Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez** (various projects for DC Comics). **Andre LeBlanc** is little-known, but widely read. He did the Bible in pictures, among other things. (Golden Age on, I guess) For current self-published stuff, **Carla Speed McNeil** ’s _Finder_ is quite well done, both for layout and giving characters distinctive likenesses with an economy of line. (Speaking of distinctive likenesses with an economy of line, the team which has drawn a lot of Dark Horse’s _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ comics have an amazing ability to render the actors’ likenesses in a few lines. I think it’s **Cliff Richards** & his inker **Joe Pimentel**.) **Jaime Hernandez** is my favorite Hernandez brother. His early “Mechanics” stories in _Love & Rockets_ are masterpieces. And I, for one, like **Adam Hughes** –or I did, before he became a pin-up illustrator. By the way, I’m reasonably certain Miyazaki didn’t draw the manga versions of his stories. I think they were fleshed out from his story outlines or something. The manga of _Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind_ blows the movie away, IMHO. But if we’re talking about Japanese artists, while I’m no expert, I would like to mention **Takumi Nagayasu** , artist on **Katsuhiro Otomo** ’s _Legend of Mother Sarah_. Of course, Otomo’s no slouch himself (_Akira_). Then there’s the amazing **Ryoichi Ikegami** , artist of _Sanctuary_, _Strain_, et al. For European artists, I like the way **Milo Manara** draws–not so much the way he writes (_Indian Summer_ and _The Gaucho_ with Hugo Pratt; _Trip to Tulum_ with Federico Fellini; various smut comics). ---
**Author:** ![Philosophocles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Philosophocles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philosophocles)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/43 "2001-07-20T04:54:57Z")
The funniest comic book writer of all time (albeit in a rather perverse way) is Jack Chick. There are also lots of funny parodies of Chick tracts, but usually the originals are even funnier. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/44 "2001-07-20T09:36:18Z")
Gotta have Bill Sienkiewicz. And Kyle Baker as well. I loved BOTH of their work on the “Shadow” series that brought him into the 80’s/90’s (God, which was it? early 90’s I think). Baker turned out to be verysympathetic to the Sienkiewicz style, was still remaining true to his own style. And Baker’s graphic novel 'Why I Hate Saturn" was HILARIOUS! As was “The Cowboy Wally Show”. I just wish I could find a copy of ‘Wally’ ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/45 "2001-07-20T12:29:52Z")
The Cowboy Wally Show was reprinted a couple of years ago. Any reputable comics shop will have a copy on hand. If you can’t find it, email me privately and I’ll buy you a copy. And, fully agreed about the late, lamented Shadow monthly series. Andy Helfer’s writing was brilliantly funny and macabre, and the art was a perfect complement to it. I’ve just discovered another flaw in the format of **Fenris** ’s list. By marking Will Eisner as a “Golden Age” artist, it shortchanges the work he’s done since then, which is easily equal to anything he did on The Spirit. Go back to the drawing board (pun intended), **Fenris** , and we’ll all look forward to your next OP. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/46 "2001-07-20T12:44:11Z")
Glad to see that Barry (Windsor-)Smith and Phil Foglio were finally added to the list. What about the other MAD artists? **Mort Drucker Don Martin Paul Coker** and the greatly underappreciated **George Woodbridge**. I saw his work in a _museum_ recently, and it made me appreciate how much historical research GW did to get his drawings right. Take a look back at his stuff in Mad – this guy does his homework on historic costumes. How about **Frank Borth**. He drew the infamous, Wertham-condemned **Phantom Lady** in the 1950s, then went on to the incredibly wholesome **Treasure Chest** in the 1960s and early 70s. I’d nominate other TC artists, too, if I knew their names. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/47 "2001-07-20T13:25:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > **The Cowboy Wally Show was reprinted a couple of years ago. Any reputable comics shop will have a copy on hand. If you can’t find it, email me privately and I’ll buy you a copy.** I may have to take you up on that, fiver. But I’ll look around here first (of course, our ‘big’ comic book store here closed down recently, so…) ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/48 "2001-07-20T13:43:07Z")
And here’s a relatively new site for all you hard core comics folk… even has a pretty good size message board, which is formatted almost exactly the same as the SDMB… [http://www.lastcomicsite.com/index.php3](http://www.lastcomicsite.com/index.php3) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/49 "2001-07-20T14:04:00Z")
Well speaking of “unknown” artists, I always thought the artist responsibe for the “juvenile comic” Hot Stuff had a real flair. No idea who it was, but he or she had a distinctive style that (as with Barks) made the characters seem as fully-animated as the format permits. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/50 "2001-07-20T14:06:45Z")
**CalMeacham** : > [@](#): > > Glad to see that Barry (Windsor-)Smith and Phil Foglio were finally added to the list. Finally added? They were in the OP, \*\*CalMeacham \*\*. **lawoot** , where do you live? ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/51 "2001-07-20T14:20:42Z")
Washington State - well west of Seattle. I see that there is a website for Kyle Baker ([http://www.kylebaker.com](http://www.kylebaker.com)) that sells his work as well… Too bad I quit using credit cards two years ago… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877/52 "2001-07-20T14:54:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Finally added? They were in the OP, CalMeacham I missed Barry Smith because I looked in the wrong place. To me he was a 70s artist, since that’s when he was starting. I didn’t expect him among ther 80s artists. Didn’t see Foglio until later posts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-50-comic-book-artists-of-all-time/72877.md?page=2)